After submitting an offer, and avidly negotiating the purchase of your new home, you are popping the Champagne and celebrating … “Offer accepted!” …

Then you start thinking: ” What furniture should I bring (and what should I ditch)? … how am I going to arrange the stuff I have already, in my NEW HOME … and what am I going to have to buy?”

Most of our home buyers aren’t interior decorators … With a little help (graph paper … room dimensions… and some furniture pieces cut to scale) arranging furniture is less stressful … less back-breaking … less trial and error… and a whole lot easier than hefting bulky furnishings from one side of the room to another and back again.

It’s not always possible, but Alexandra and I try to get a set of floor-plans for our buyers … It beats having them guess at dimensions and openings … and it’s better than imposing on the sellers, trekking back and forth to measure and visualize spaces in the home that will become the buyers (once we close on it).

I remember when I was getting ready to move into one of my very first homes. I was toying with how to arrange furniture in my head and finding it a challenge … so I cut furniture pieces to scale, and using graph paper I manupulated the pieces of ‘furniture’ around, arranging them on photocopied blueprints till the rooms ‘worked’.

Someone apparently coined my concept … and came up with a way to simplify moving … on paper. Whether you want to come up with your own home-made version, or use a more professional version like the one the Miami Herald reports on in their Home & Garden section, you may find playing house on paper worth the effort … It’s less work than manually moving heavy furnture :

Next move, please call us … We would love to help you find you next home! Vicki & Alexandra Restivo … Moving to or from Miami … or relocating across country or internationally 305 793-1365. We look forward to working with you!